Obama Announces U.S. Plan For Ebola Epidemic

President Barack Obama outlined an expanded Ebola treatment program on Tuesday, saying the U.S. will send 3,000 U.S. military personnel to West Africa to help build treatment facilities, train health care workers and deliver resources to those in need.

The president outlined his plan while speaking at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia on Tuesday. The president said that when "faced with this outbreak, the world is looking to" the U.S. to provide aid to West Africa.

The president also said that the current Ebola crisis is receiving the "the largest international response in the history of the CDC."

According to The Guardian, the United States' new plan for West Africa will reportedly cost $500 million in funds that include opening new healthcare centers, training healthcare workers and delivering resources including medical staples and testing kits to the African countries most affected, including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Nigeria.

The World Health Organization has also spoken out about the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, with Margaret Chan, director-general for the World Health Organization, saying in a statement: "Today, there is not one single bed available for the treatment of an Ebola patient in the entire country of Liberia."

"As soon as a new Ebola treatment facility is opened, it immediately fills to overflowing with patients," Chan added. 

Since the outbreak began earlier in 2014, nearly 3,000 people have died and over 4,000 people have been infected with the deadly virus, including multiple American aid workers. The United States has already spent more than $100 million responding to the outbreak.